1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for promoting social intercourse among people, and it relates more particularly to a method and means for people to meet and develop interpersonal relationships in a casual, nonthreatening and convenient manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since time immemorial people have practiced associating with other people for purposes of perpetuating the survival of the species, among other things. It is a basic instinctual need of people, particularly those of opposite sexes, to meet and develop interpersonal relationships with others, to mate at some point and thereafter have offspring. Even people of the same sex enjoy social intercourse among themselves as a normal part of enhancing the quality of life. Man is basically a social creature.
Meeting people, whether of the opposite or even of the same sex can often be a difficult and frustrating experience, particularly in situations where a person feels a strong need in his or her life to find someone to become acquainted or otherwise associated with. In the early years of life in most modern societies the educational system provides a natural vehicle for people to associate with a variety of other people thereby satisfying the need for communalism because of the common interests shared by the members of the group. However, as time goes on and the person leaves academia to embark into the work place and make a living the numbers of opportunities to meet others and develop interpersonal relationships often diminishes dramatically. Social intercourse in the work place has resulted in promoting interpersonal relationships among people leading to mating and procreation. However, many people find it awkward to have both a business and personal relationship, at the same time, with someone at their place of employment. Indeed, in recent times it is dangerous from a legal standpoint to have more than a business relationship with someone at work because of implications related to possible sexual harassment claims should the personal relationship fail motivating one of the parties to seek retribution or reprisal against the other. This is true not only in heterosexual relationships but homosexual relationships as well. Failed relationships at work can ruin careers, cost considerable expense to people in both monetary and emotional terms and otherwise detract considerably from the quality of life. Accordingly, many people prefer to look outside the work place to develop interpersonal relationships with others.
To satisfy the need for communalism in the lives of people many vehicles for promoting interpersonal relationships have emerged. One such vehicle is a club or organization of some type where people who share common interests can become acquainted. Even established religious institutions offer programs for people to become acquainted and share common interests consistent with the practices of the particular religious faith. However, a disadvantage of such organized programs is that they appeal to persons who have relatively focused, established beliefs and often they are not attended by enough variety of people to permit practical permanent relationships to develop. Accordingly, vehicles for developing relationships have evolved which appeal to wider varieties of people thereby increasing the statistical odds of two people forming a relationship. One such vehicle is computer dating, which is a phenomenon wherein people under a degree of anonymity can become acquainted gradually and thereafter make conscious decisions whether they wish to get more seriously involved. This type of approach has an appeal particularly to people who are not involved already in a serious relationship but wish to start one. People in this class are often single people who do not have a spouse for one reason or another.
While computer dating has served a valuable function in getting people acquainted it is not without disadvantages. First, it is an expensive proposition to subscribe to a computer dating service. These services do screen the parties in an attempt to match common interests. However, the vagaries of personal relationships are such that people often do not know how to articulate what makes them attracted to other people. Thus, these services cannot ensure a successful match and often the subscriber to the service must spend a good deal of time and resources to find an acceptable acquaintance. This is particularly true of people such as singles who are advanced in years and who, through life experiences, have become less open to beliefs and concepts which are foreign to their own.
In order to expedite the process of becoming acquainted with others some people place advertisements in newspapers or other publications which have wide circulation and offer the possibility of exposing the advertising party to responses from numerous potential acquaintances. This method offers the advantages of relatively low-cost exposure and a degree of anonymity or privacy. However, the advertising party is completely left to his or her own resources and social acumen in discriminating whether to pursue a relationship with a responding party. Moreover, a small ad in a newspaper simply cannot condense the myriad of interests a person has as a result of his or her life experiences. Accordingly, the potential for an appropriate match is often not statistically realistic. Moreover, people generally like to visually examine their potential acquaintances at an early opportunity as part of the normal discrimination process. The process of examining a respondent to a personal newspaper ad can be a shocking and uncomfortable experience.
Yet another vehicle for promoting and developing interpersonal relationships has evolved with the evolution of information technology; that is computer chat lines. On a chat line a party can be completely anonymous while he or she monitors the line and verbally interacts with other subscribers. Then, if a responding party is interesting enough to get further involved with, the party can gradually let down his or her guard and divulge more personal information which could lead to a desired serious relationship. However, a known disadvantage of computer chat lines is that still limited numbers of people own computers. Even further, those who subscribe to these chat lines often are separated by considerable distance making it very geographically undesirable for people to become further associated. In this connection, a serious interpersonal relationship among normal people often leads to the desire for some sort of physical touching or the like. The inability to visually examine the other person is also considerably undesirable with chat lines. Accordingly, computer chat lines still have not fully met and satisfied the need people have to meet and form relationships with others.
One time-honored way for people to meet and become acquainted with others is to simply go to the bar. Bars are available in all different sizes, ambiances and the like. An advantage of a bar is that people who go there are likely to be domiciled in the same local area and are not only geographically desirable they are likely to share common attitudes, social values, lifestyles and so forth. A further advantage of a bar is that these establishments often serve alcohol in some form which can be an aphrodisiac and allow people to become less inhibited than they normally would be. The result is that bars serve a highly functional purpose in presenting opportunities for people to meet and become acquainted. As a consequence bars have been highly successful in promoting mating, procreation and the like among not only single people but even among people who have other serious relationships which are lacking in some respect or are not entirely satisfying. A considerable advantage of a bar as a setting for meeting people is that people can, at the very outset, visually examine other people and make an early determination of whether they wish to initiate a relationship based upon sensuality and other related attributes which are frequently a basic part of human relations.
A known disadvantage of bars as a place for meeting people is that situations can develop in the process of people meeting other people which are uncomfortable to deal with. This is particularly true in bars where people are fairly mobile and have relative ease in moving about the bar room to mingle with others. A situation can develop, for example, in which an aggressive person approaches another more reserved person and attempts to dominate an initial meeting contact. In such a situation, the reserved person may not wish to be engaging by advancing the relationship and hence might wish to extricate himself or herself from the situation. But, because of the physical layout of the bar and the desire to not be discourteous or rude that person may feel trapped in an uncomfortable position with the only alternative being to leave the bar at the sacrifice of having a potentially good experience meeting other people. In a somewhat opposite situation where the bar is not conducive to mingling, one person may feel too bashful or timid to walk over to another person to start an initial meeting contact for fear that the respondent will reject the advance. Fear of rejection is a known psychological impediment to people approaching others to make initial contact. In a bar situation a person may feel subject to ridicule if he or she is rejected or dejected by another person in the clear view of onlookers. Accordingly, while many bars attempt to provide an atmosphere and ambiance for people to readily meet other people they still are not without limitations in bringing people together in a convenient, nonthreatening and effective manner.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method and means for people to readily meet other people in a convenient, nonthreatening and casual manner. It is further desirable to provide such a method and means which is conducive to bringing people together who have potentially common interests and lifestyles. Still further it is desirable to provide such a method and means wherein people have relatively rapid and large exposure to others and hence have the ability to pick and choose others for purposes of initiating a meeting contact in a discriminating but comfortable manner.